Riding The Wave News Summary 90
How Elon Musk Could Put More Crypto Into Twitter, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's win was a victory for crypto, & more.
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Table of Contents
Tweets
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's win was a victory for crypto
Visa Files Trademark Applications for Crypto Wallets, NFTs and the Metaverse
Vitalik Buterin ‘kinda happy’ with ETF delays, backs maturity over attention
Tweets
How Elon Musk Could Put More Crypto Into Twitter
After months of dramatic back-and-forth, Elon Musk has taken control of Twitter Inc., igniting emotions ranging from hope to anxiety among users who are bracing themselves for how the billionaire will put his stamp on the social-media platform. Crypto Twitter is no exception.
Digital-asset enthusiasts have long congregated on Twitter, where they’ve changed their profile pictures to images of themselves with “laser eyes” as a signal of their crypto support, posted irreverent memes about rising (and then falling) coin prices and re-tweeted threads from their favorite founders.
But if Musk did decide to have crypto play a bigger role on Twitter, here are some ways he could do it:
Bots and spam on Twitter are huge pain points for Musk, and helped spark a contentious legal battle that put his acquisition of the company in jeopardy. The issue is particularly important in crypto, where spam accounts impersonate famous figures like Musk in order to promote scams involving fake crypto giveaways. But some digital-asset enthusiasts believe that using blockchain could help reduce bots on Twitter. A blockchain-based identity verification tool or an NFT passport could be options for promoting Musk’s goal of wanting to “authenticate all real humans”on Twitter.
Freedom of speech is close to Musk’s heart, and he intends to lift the company’s lifelong bans on users. Those values align with those of many crypto believers dedicated to the ethos of decentralization promoted by blockchain. They think that a single entity shouldn’t make major decisions over how a platform is managed. While Musk could potentially implement a token-based voting system that allows users to have more say over what happens on Twitter, it’s important to note that his potential embrace of crypto is a doubled-edged sword. While adding more crypto elements on Twitter could expand mainstream usage of digital assets, it will further consolidate Musk’s influence over an industry that many want to be as decentralized as possible.
Musk has already expressed ambitions of turning Twitter into a “super app” and spoken admirably of China’s WeChat platform, which can handle messaging, games, payments and video streaming. With other aspiring super app creators like Revolut Ltd. expanding into crypto, it would make sense if Musk’s vision included digital assets as well. Allowing more cryptocurrencies for tipping could be a first step, with Dogecoin being a likely top candidate given Musk’s love of the token.
Other mainstream social media platforms like Instagram are diving further into NFTs. Though Musk has mocked these assets in the past, including Twitter’s decision to allow authenticated NFT profile pictures, he could introduce more NFT features, such as a marketplace or the ability for users to create a profile represented by an NFT that gives them greater ownership over their content -- a practice already implemented by decentralized social media platform Lens Protocol. These measures could ensure that Twitter doesn’t fall behind other social media giants in terms of crypto adoption.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's win was a victory for crypto
A former investment banker turned savvy politician, Rishi Sunak has had an incredibly prolific career in just a short period of time. At only 42, he has served as a member of the United Kingdom’s Parliament, chief secretary to the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer — and now, he’s starting his tenure as prime minister.
As the youngest PM to take office in the U.K. in more than 200 years, Sunak has something else in common with his millennial peers: He is a crypto enthusiast. In fact, as a recent Bank of America survey found, “Younger investors are choosing to allocate significantly more of their portfolios to crypto” than their older counterparts. Additionally, those in the 21–42 age bracket are “more likely to believe crypto offers the greatest opportunities for growth” and allocate an average of 15% of their portfolios to crypto investments, compared with the 2% invested by the over-42s.
The difference is, of course, that Sunak doesn’t just keep his soft spot for cryptocurrencies to himself. Unlike many of his peers, he is actually capable of advancing the industry in entirely new, exciting ways. He can propose legislation, issue regulations and push through new ideas.
Make no mistake: This is not pure speculation — he said so himself.
“It’s my ambition to make the U.K. a global hub for crypto-asset technology,” Sunak said as chancellor of the exchequer, highlighting the need to “ensure firms can invest, innovate and scale up in this country.”
In 2020, Sunak announced his intention to prioritize financial technology, such as central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and stablecoins, in order to allow the country to keep up with the times, or, in his words, “ensure the UK financial services industry is always at the forefront of technology and innovation.”
He also — and, perhaps, most importantly — helped formulate the Financial Services and Markets Bill, which the country moved forward with this month. The suggested bill, which proposes “a range of measures to maintain and enhance the U.K.’s position as a global leader in financial services,” is the first step, and a crucial one at that, toward greater clarity around technologies like cryptocurrencies and blockchain and would allow their development to further advance and their hold to strengthen.
Visa Files Trademark Applications for Crypto Wallets, NFTs and the Metaverse
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